Black Coal, Thin Ice

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Diao Yinan directs. Dong Jinsong behind the camera. Wen Zi scores. Huang Bojun cuts. Produced in China. Dialogue in Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 12 years ago.
• 2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 3Directed by Diao Yinan, shot by Dong Jinsong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Wen Zi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Huang Bojun shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Liao Fan and Gwei Lun-Mei and Wang Xuebing carry the top of the cast.
• 7IMDB entry: tt3469910 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 10 themes, including "salesclerk", "china", "unsociability", "police".

The technical file

Cinematography

Dong Jinsong

Original score

Wen Zi

Editing

Huang Bojun

Makeup / hair

Yang Hong

Sound

Li Danfeng

Runtime

106 min · 1h 46m

Status

Released

Original language

ZH

IMDB

Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

93% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

70/100

IMDB rating

6.7/10 · 10,433 votes

MPAA

Not Rated

Also by

Diao Yinan

• 
  The Wild Goose Lake

  2019 · ★ 6.6
• 
  Night Train

  2007 · ★ 6.6
• 
  Uniform

  2003 · ★ 5.7
• 
  The Best Acting Performances: A Self-inflicted Whistleblower

  2019

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Official UK Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2024-04-01
  ★ 7/10

  OK, so yes - this is a very slow burn a times with far too many establishing and shots of decaying urban industrialisation, but when the action does actually focus on the story it's not a bad crime drama at all. We start with an arm sticking out of a pile of coal. The cops arrive and "Zhang" (Fan Liao) is soon on the case. He can only identify the corpse, though, and unimpressed his bosses ensure that five years down the line he is reduced to working as a security guard with a penchant for the bottle too. What we now know, though, is that there were a series of such killings and they are now under his fingernails. He is obsessed with identifying the killer. Reuniting with his for partner "Liang" (Xuebing Wang), they pick up a trail that leads them to the enigmatic "Wu Zhizhen" (Gwei Lun-Mei). "Zhang" now vacillates between an attraction to this woman and to suspecting her, but has she anything to do with the crimes? It's a curiously developed film, this. It proceeds in fits and starts before a denouement that is rushed and rather unfulfilling. It looks gritty and dark, the weather - cold and miserable, also helps to create an atmosphere and the acting is competent. Maybe it could lose twenty minutes of preambling characterisations, but it has a solid story with director Yi'nan Diao getting close to the the best from Fan Liao and his lumps of coal.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• OM

  Omnijoi Media 幸福蓝海影视文化

  CN

• BO

  Boneyard Entertainment China

• 

  China Film Group Corporation

  CN

Key crew

• ProducerVivian Qu
• EditorHuang Bojun
• Makeup DesignerYang Hong
• EditorYang Hongyu
• Makeup ArtistDecor Elaine
• ProducerHan Sanping
• Sound DirectorZhang Yang
• Sound DesignerLi Danfeng
• Art DirectionLiu Qiang
• ProducerWan Juan
• ThanksJia Zhangke
• Co-ProducerShen Yang
• Executive ProducerDaniel J. Victor
• Co-ProducerZhang Dajun
• ThanksTony Rayns
• ThanksHuijia Mo
• ColoristLee Yong-ki

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• salesclerk
• china
• unsociability
• police
• winter
• murder
• police officer
• macabre
• neo-noir
• complex

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2014-04-19· Tribeca Film Festival

Also known as

International titles

• 白日焰火CN
• Black CoalFR
• Bai ri yan huoCN
• Feuerwerk am helllichten TageDE
• Black Coal, Thin IceUS
• Black Coal Thin IceUS
• Qara Kömür, İncə BuzAZ